CALIFORNIA
Sacramento Bee
By Victor Garza
Special to The Bee
Published: Wednesday, Sep. 4, 2013
“To create a distinction between private and public entities would make a mockery of the Legislature’s stated intent to ‘ensure that victims severely damaged by childhood sexual abuse are able to seek compensation from those responsible.’”
That’s a quote from a legal brief filed by Irwin Zalkin, one of the attorneys and co-sponsors of Senate Bill 131, authored by Sen. Jim Beall.
It’s doubly ironic, because discrimination against public victims of childhood sexual abuse is at the center of SB 131. It’s why the bill has developed such a broad and surprising coalition of opponents.
On the surface, SB 131 looks like serious legislation to deal with the rights of victims of child sexual abuse to sue their abuser by reviving claims that have died because the statute of limitations has expired. But scratch the surface and people should have serious concerns about how it addresses the problem. Why?
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